India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL) is set to pinch the pockets of tipplers in Punjab with the state Cabinet Thursday approving a new excise policy for the 2025-26 fiscal, with an aim to collect Rs 11,020 crore in revenue — a rise of Rs 875 crore over last fiscal.A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of Council of Ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.Addressing media after the meeting, Finance and Excise Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said his department would generate a revenue of Rs 10,200 crore by the end of March this year as against the target of Rs 10,145 crore for 2024-25.“Last year, we were able to achieve 100 per cent target. There is an incredible increase in the revenue over last three years and it is for the first time that the collection has crossed the Rs 10,000 crore-mark. The excise collection in the last year SAD-BJP government (2007) was Rs 4,405 crore and in the last year of the Congress regime (2022) was Rs 6,254 crore,” said Cheema.Multiple sources with access to the new excise policy said, it envisages an increase of Rs 10 to Rs 20 per bottle of IMFL and Rs 30 to Rs 40 for IFL, depending on the brands. There is no change in the rates for the Punjabi Medium Liquor (PML) or country-made liquor and beer.Even as the annual quota for IMFL and IFL remains unlimited, the government has increased increase the PML quota by 3 per cent — from 8.286 crore proof litres in 2024-25 to 8.534 crore proof litres in 2025-26.A senior official justified fixing the quota for PML. “We have to have a fixed quota for PML as our state has a number of local distillers manufacturing this liquor. The cost of PML per bottle of some brands is as low as Rs 60. If the quota is open, then it will be like opening a can of worms and distilleries may also end up selling hooch under the garb of PML. For the sake of controlling the trade, we need a fixed quota. The increase in quota will mobilize additional revenue and ensure enough availability of country liquor”.Story continues below this adMeanwhile, to encourage setting up of more standalone beer shops, the government has reduced its license fee to Rs 25,000 for 2025-26, a drastic cut from Rs 2 lakh per shop in the ongoing fiscal.An official in the excise department said that last year only 25 new beer shops were set up across the state.The government has also made the group size of vends bigger for the next fiscal. Now, every group will be worth Rs 40 crore, plus-minus 20 per cent. Hence, the number of groups will be reduced to 207 compared to the earlier 236.During the ongoing financial year, the retail vends were allotted at an annual license fee of Rs 8,486 crore. For the 2025-26 fiscal, the reserve price for all tentative 207 groups shall be fixed at Rs 9,017 crore.Story continues below this adSmall contractors are, however, upset with the government making group size bigger. They claim that it was aimed at making the business monopolistic in favour of big contractors, while smaller ones would be weeded out. A government official, however, said that there was no ban on cartels and “small contractors can get together and form a group”.Cheema, meanwhile, informed that to further strengthen enforcement, new excise police stations will be set up. In this regard, a committee has been formed, he said.He said the cow welfare cess has been increased from Re 1 per proof litre to Rs 1.50 per proof litre. It will lead to an increase in revenue from Rs 16 crore to Rs 24 crore, he said.Further, in order to give relief to defence forces, the fee of their wholesale licence has been reduced by 50 per cent from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh.Story continues below this adIn order to promote tourism, the possession limit of licence holders of farm stays has been increased from 12 quarts of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) to 36 quarts. They can also keep 25 bottles of beer, wine, gin and vodka as against 12 bottles allowed earlier.To give better consumer experience, one model shop in each group has been made mandatory for retail licensees in Municipal Corporation areas. The fee of standalone beer shops has been reduced from Rs 2 lakh per shop to Rs 25,000 per shop.To promote new investment in the state, new bottling plants have been allowed to be set up, an official said.The government is also switching back to e-tendering for allotment of vends, ditching the draw of lots system that it had earlier brought in.Story continues below this adAn official said, “We are competing against Chandigarh and can not allow the prices of liquor to be be costlier here than in the state capital. This will help us stop smuggling that used to happen in the past. Also to mop up revenue, we are looking at excise fee, import fee, license fee and bottling fee. There has been a marginal increase in these. Also, fresh e-tendering will fetch us more money”.